Industry DisruptionAnnouncedCalifornia DMV Is Testing Car Titles As NFTs
Milestone Date: April 27, 2023
California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has teamed up with Tezos and Oxhead Alpha to test using the Tezos public distributed ledger to distribute digitized car titles as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Once titles-as-NFTs are on-chain, the collaboration should also transform the process of downstream title transfers as well (similar to how other NFTs are transferred on the secondary market).
The California DMV is currently testing this process using a private testnet version on Tezos, a blockchain that claims to be environmentally friendly. The agency chose to work with crypto software development group Oxhead Alpha to build the platform. Oxhead Alpha completed the blockchain-based titling proof-of-concept in January 2023.
While DMVs in general aren’t really known for innovation (been to a DMV lately?), as the home to Silicon Valley, California certainly is. And this project is a major step towards furthering the use case of blockchain technology for something that citizens experience every day. Ajay Gupta, Chief Digital Transformation Officer stated, “DMV is exploring innovative blockchain solutions to help increase efficiency, boost transparency and reduce economic costs. This would avoid repeated verification steps for customer and State/public service entities, resulting in reduced workload, economic benefits and auditability.”
If the testing phase results in a positive outcome, we could expect to see broader adoption of using blockchain for digitized car titles as NFTs and trusted car title transfers between individuals and/or organizations.
By Elizabeth Morrison
Published:January 27, 2023
Sources
Press Release